At the end of April, under the first warm rays of the sun, the buds of the cherry trees open, transforming the orchards into blossoming and fragrant landscapes. The more numerous the flower, the greater the chance of a rich yield.
Promotion of flowering
The cherry blossoms are not there for their own sake, their main purpose is to produce fruit and seeds. Of course, some cherry varieties are only cultivated for their spectacular blooms in spring. However, in most gardens, the sweet and sour cherry trees are planted in order to harvest fruit from them.
In a young cherry tree, the formation of flowers is less than the formation of shoots. After all, a strong crown structure should first develop before the tree begins to bear fruit. Flower formation is influenced by many factors: nutrient supply, crown structure, site and weather conditions.
Regular pruning promotes flowering. It is important to distinguish between leaf and flower buds. A flower bud is thicker than a shoot or leaf bud. If the pruned branch ends with a flower bud, the shoot will no longer grow at this point. Therefore, you should always cut to a leaf bud from which a new shoot can develop.
heyday
The sweet cherry begins to bloom as early as mid-April. The delicate blossom can be endangered by the late frost. Wet weather during flowering will affect fruit set. The sour cherry is better protected from late frosts due to its relatively late flowering period from the end of April to the beginning of May. At the end of the flowering period, the cherry trees should be protected with nets from the birds, which would otherwise eat the half-ripe fruit within a few days.
pollination
In order for the flower to become a fruit, it must be pollinated and its ovules in the ovary must be fertilized. Most sweet cherry cultivars are not self-fertile and need a pollinator cultivar to flower at the same time. Among the tart cherries there are many self-fertile varieties in which pollination of the stigma with pollen from the same tree already leads to fertilization.
tips and tricks
Nature obviously values the avoidance of self-pollination, because in numerous self-fertile varieties the male and female organs in a flower mature at different times.